Echolalia and Speech Development

[Guest guest]

My 5.5 year old son recently began to show a big increase in his echolalia.

He will repeat most of what you say to him. Previously he would just say the

last word or nothing.

His spontaneous language is comprised of single word requests. He has about

50 words. He communicates spontaneously by saying, toast, car, swing, run,

up, bed, open door, TV, fries, walk, etc. He struggles with yes/no.

My speech therapist says the echolalia is bad since it shows he doesn't know

how to use language interactively. She also feels his one word requests

should have evolved to two word requests by now.

I was actually pleased with the echolalia since he is talking more, seems

more motivated than ever and his articulation is not that bad. Do you think the

echolalia will evolve to interactive speech? Isn't any progress good? Any

thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.